We have cruised several times with our kids as teens and once as young adults. Depending on how outgoing the 19 year old is, he may or may not have a good time. On NCL at that age a parent can sign for them to be served wine and beer. He could be served alcohol, presumably from birth, on some islands. We cruised NCL with our daughter (age 18) and 2 of her college friends and in the Bahamas they had no trouble being served alcohol but were thrown out of a casino at a beach (for age, not rowdiness).

I think either would work - and these days some cruises turn out to be far more economical than shore vacations - so that may be a factor. A cruise for us was the perfect compromise between our kids feeling they were vacationing with Mommy and letting them run wild and free - we agreed to meet up for dinner each night and ended up seeing each other more often by choice. Also, if you pay for land activities - parasailing, snorkeling, hard hat diving - they are usually more willing to spend that time with you as well.

Brining a friend turns out to be not that much more expensive - unless you are all 3 going to share a cabin, single occupancy supplements greatly add to the cost - it is almost as cheap to bring a 4th person.

You can all sit in a bar but your son can't have alcohol. He can order a coke. I know most ships make all UNDER 18 leave the disco at 11pm but you and your kids can stay there as long as you like. Pretty sure the casino limits anyone 18 or younger but 19 is fine.
You will find the cost of a cruise vacation way lower then any hotel's. Consider the cost of a good hotel per night then all your meals, the cost of going to a show or to a lounge. On a ship there is food all the time, 24 hour pizza and ice cream, 24 hour room service, breakfast, lunch and dinner is in the dining room or at the buffet. Yes you do pay for your bar bill which includes soda and a 15% automatic tip to the bar waiter but there is always coffee, hot & cold tea at the buffet 24 hours plus sometimes lemonade (depends on the cruise line). Compare the costs and a cruise will win out everytime.
I recently saw 7 days for $299@. Shop for a cruise don't just go to one TA book one. Call different TAs and check with on line companies as well as calling the cruise line direclty. You can check prices on line for each ship and company. Go to any TA for catalogues. They are free and you do not have to book with them but you can get a price from them when you deicde what ship and when.
And check out cruisecritic.com, the most comprehensive cruise site you will ever find. You'll find reviews here, port info and a LOT more.Check out their menu, go to Boards the 'cruise discussion topics' then to 'ask a cruise question'.
Beware, once you cruise you will get hooked!

Great idea! My DW has been trying to get our adult kdis to cruise with us but not havng too much luck. Too cold in Alsaka and too hot in Mexico. There is no pleasing them. The last time they cruised with us was when they were teenagers, and it was years ago.

The drinking age on most cruise ship is 21. The exception being NCL where they will allow 18-20 beer and wine with permission from parents.

Your son should have no problem going in the Casino. He just can't gamble. He can watch, and if he looks old enough and no one cares to check ID, he might be able to get away with playing a game or two. If he was caught, apologize and plead ignorance and make the promsie not to gamble again. If he is caught the second time, then it will be a problem as you can't plead ignorance anymore.

On the ship, you only need to carry one thing: your cruise card. The crusie card is your ID and your son's card will indicated that he is underage, meaning he can't purchase alchol with his card. You can always order more than one drink and he can drink from it. No one will check ID unless he looks really young. Again, if he was caught, plead ignorance and promsie not to do it again. Just don't get caught the second or the third time. By the way, most ships have security cameras all over the public areas. If you look hard enough, you will find them.

If he is really desparate for a drink, order room service and he can always drink in his cabin. Just remember, he can't order it or sign for it. The question then becomes why? You don't need alchol to have a good time.

There are plenty of time that people just sat in the night club and watch the show or go dancing and did not participate in the drinking. Your son can definitely get in there and do whatever he wanted except drinking.

Cruising is cheaper than most all inclusives on the caribbean island, and I think it is a better vacation. For the young adults, they would probably enjoyed the RCL ships with all the young adult oriented acivities, including rock climbing wall etc. There is also quiet places that you can go and relax as well.

Carnival is another good choice as they have plenty of entertainment for young adults.

If you are looking for a more relaxing and resort like atmosphere, I would suggest Princess or Celebrity. The entertanment is more age appropriate for you but there are still soemthing for the young adults.

I wouldn't worry too much about not enough activities. On a 7 day cruise, you will have typically 2 to 3 sea days and 3 maybe 4 port stays. Since this will be your first cruise, here is aa quick run down.

On the port days, you go on tours, beaches, walk around town, and don't necessary have to pay the $$ for organized shore ecursions. Typically you will arrive at port in the morning, have breakfast before you go ashore and back on the ship for dinner, catch a show or two afterward and that's pretty much the whole day gone.

On the sea days, they will have organized activities such as video game competion, pool sports, golf, ping pong tourney etc. There are also movies, shows, ship's tour, spa, gym, dancing lessons, etc. There are plenty of activities that you can do as a family, or on your own.

The megaships are hugh and you won't see them 24/7 unless you wanted to. I am sure it is going to be a fun time and like bonniejns said, you'll be hooked.

Opps! Just forgot to mention something that could be very important. All cruise lines rquires at least one passeneger in each cabin to be of "minimum" age. Some are as high as 25 (Carnival/HAL), most are 21. A good TA should have these info handy. What it means is that your son may not be able to be in his own cabin with a friend unless he is with someone older than 21.

You may want to look at booking a "triple", knowing full well that your son may not enjoy it as much unless he is okay with being so close to his mom and sis. Of coruse, you can always cheat and list you and your 24 year old as passenegers on different cabins to get away with it. When you book, ask for cabins close to each other. Some ships have adjoining cabins.

Doug, I am not advocating breaking the rules ... I am just telling it the way it is and what everyone else is doing, including TAs and ship's agents.

This is the problem with switching cabins as described above. If you are all on the same credit card for on-board purchases, it works fine (as in families). But when we cruised with our dtr and friends, I needed to be listed as being in cabin in exchange for one of them, who was then listed with my mother. Big mess, since credit cards were different - and there was no way I was sharing cabin with 2 18 year olds.

We were told by NCL that this could be changed on board - we tried and they refused. (citing rule of someone over 21 in cabin). Went back later and talked very pleasantly and respectfully to guest services supervisor who agreed to give us a "key only" cruise card - so we had to carry 2 cruise cards - one for purchases and one for entry to room.

Gail, the problem is that the cruise line is being very inflexible with this age requirement. The only exception they have made is for young married couples. I guess they wanted soemone to be held responsible just in case some one trashed the place?

Everyone is breaking this rule, the TA's, the cruise line's own agents, they all have suggested and done the switching.
My question is why not relax the rules when it is a family travelling together?

A warning regarding the drinking. We were on a cruise a few years ago where the 18-21 year olds were able to drink beer/wine with a parents’ permission. (They somehow mark the cruise card with a sticker, a punch or online in their system.) Anyway, I was behind one of the parents who was checking his bill at the bursar’s office and he nearly had a heart attack. His bar bill was $1,000.

Tell me about it. My sons bar bill on our 10 day Baltic cruise was ridiculous.

As a first time cruiser,you might find this topic interesting
"Here's How a $350 Cruise Turns Into $1,100!"
It's on cruisecritic. Their boards/forum is very useful, especially for first timers. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=921766

Running up a bar bill is easy. On a 7 day Caribbean cruise, co-workers of mine (mother and duaghter) ran up a $2,000 bar tab ... They told me that it was worth it so I dodn't ask question after that.

It is rally easy to figure it out. Two beers a day ia about $100 for 7 days. A bottle of wine day is $350. If you have a cocktail here and there and a night cap, that would be another $500. And that's with nothing super expensive.

My addiction is fine coffee and a glass of wine with dinner, maybe a beer once in a while. Those who run up big bar tabs at the cruise ship are the same people who will run up big bar tabs at the local watering hole, where ever.

I'll venture to say that the cruise ship is not the problem here. If you want all the booze you can drink, go to a Mexican all inclusive instead.

Eschew: What coffees do you prefer? I like good coffees too. At home I get regular deliveries from Gevalia. when one of our German friends visits back home she brings me some really nice stuff like Eduscho or Dallymar (spelling)

Larry: Kona (Hawaii), Simba (Kenya), Trung Nguyen (Vietnam), I like them all. I like my coffee strong but smooth (not bitter). Columbian and Brazilian are both good, cheap and readily available. I buy whole beans and grind my own at home.
I get regular supply of Simba from my son's buddy. His girl friend works for UN in Kenya. It is fairly inespensive. You can buy Trung Nguyen on line.

I know you travel east sometimes and if I remember correctly, you are heading to India via HK? WHen you are in HK, try their local coffee. Not the one in the big hotel or chain coffee houses but the local coffee shops that the local frequent. They are silky smooth and full of flavor. I heard that they put egg shells in it to take out the bitterness and they actually runing the coffee through filters several time to get the full flavour. They also ground the beans very fine.

They also have a unqiue drink called "half and half" which is a mix of coffee and red tea. Although they are call "half and half", it is a 70% coffee and 30% red tea blend. haven't had one from HK for a long time but you can get them at some China Town restaurants. While you are at it, try their "Milk Tea" (NOT those trashy bubble tea from Taiwan).

BTW, what the heck happen to your BH? They traded away half the team after the cup!

Oh man I know what you mean. Well its the dreaded salary cap issue here that made this necessary. A few guys are one thing but it looks like the supporting structure was gutted out. They did get alot of pics and some younger players w/ potential so hopefully the near future is good but next yr? We'll see.
Yes we will be in HK and thans for the tip about the coffees there. I will try them. I've never had coffee from VN so I'll do a google search for it.
My reg. Gevalia shipment includes Kenyan. One of the best I've ever had is their limited edition (once per yr.) selection from Papua New Guinea. It is very smooth and robust.
Also in the limited edition selction is a Mexica coffee called marigoyipe. Excellent stuff.
Cheers and cup of Joe to ya. Larry











and

Your son can always do what my daughter and her friends (18 and 19 at the time) did. Walk around the ship late at night, find some crew members hanging out on the deck, get into a conversation with them, and then the crew members, breaking all sorts of rules, buy my dtr and friends drinks.

I am very happy I did not know about this until the day the cruise was over.

Well Gail, I am not sure if I like that scenario ... two young underage female fed liquor after hours. I'll be complaining very loud to the authorities ... who knows what happens if the crew managed to get the girls drunk ... It's scary stuff.

Larry, thanks for the tip. I'll look for them.

Hi Jaynor,

I understand where you're coming from as I'm also a woman in my 50's from the East Coast who just returned from a Caribbean cruise with my DH & our two "kids" 18 and 22. This was the first cruise for all except my DS, the 18 yo. Had many of the same questions and issues - want some time together & some apart etc.

We went for a week on the Emerald Princess. Although it had many good points, I can't really recommend it for someone in your/my situation. We visited 4 islands & enjoyed them all. However, there were 2 at-sea days and there really wasn't enough to do during the day. It seems that many of the so-called activities were sales pitches - for spa treatments, teeth whitening, places to shop etc. Also, there were only 2 events for 18-20 yo. My kids went to a pool party & no one else showed up. Probably RCCL would have been a better choice but it just didn't work out.

My understanding is that all cruise ships leaving from the U.S. don't allow anyone under 21 to drink. (The same lines leaving from Europe sometimes do.) You can check this link for more info. http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=46
Personally, I find this annoying but not a big deal. If we are all having wine with dinner, it would be nice if the 18 yo could have some too. (He did enjoy legally ordering a beer in St. Martin.)

On Princess, as others have said, the 18 yo could go anywhere. In fact, children were allowed in all the bars. The only age limited place was the nightclub where you had to be 18. So DS went, but couldn't find many to dance with since everyone else was older than him. The only other limitation was you had to be 21 to gamble in the casino.

Important tips - if you do go on a cruise, make sure they put a limit on the amount of money your kids can spend. Princess did this by having us give them some cash for the kids room rather than linking it to a credit card. Also, make it clear that cell phones must be off or you will wind up paying more for that than for the cruise!

Depending on the deal you get, an AI may be more or less expensive than a cruise. If you are interested in looking at AI's, Dominican Republic and the area south of Cancun have lots of them. There are also generally nonstop flights to these places.

BTW, did you realize that Aug-Oct is peak hurricane season?

Here are some links you may find of interest.
for all things to do with cruising
http://www.cruisecritic.com/
if you are interested in the Dominican Republic
http://www.debbiesdominicantravel.com/
info on the Riviera Maya AKA area south of Cancun
http://www.locogringo.com/

Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you have more questions.

jerirl, excellent post! Great tips, especially on the limit of the spending. I have to remember that one.

Although we find lots to do on sea day, but then we are not 18 either. On sea days, we took in the free lectures (usually not well advertised), video game contests (even at our age), library, ship tour, shows, dance lessons, golf etc. We stay away from the spa and sales pitch.

There are more younger people on RCCL as they geared towards a younger crowd than Princess. With rock climbing wall etc, there are more to do there. Some RCCL ships even has a surfing pool and give surfing lessons. The Oasis of the Sea has zip lines.

Persoanlly, I don't like all inclusive, but then it's me. Also, it doesn't allow for the freedom of being on separate vacations and meet up every once in a while and the perception of freedom that was offered to the young ones.

I think there are also more to do on a crusie ship than a typical resort (ok, the ship does not have a beach) In your experience, you have 4 stops and 2 sea days. Having a great time 2/3 of the time is not all that bad.